A Response to “If You Hate America So Much, Why Don’t You Leave”

A brave and enlightened Bryton Mellott caused an uproar in his Illinois community when he torched a U.S. imperialist flag in his own yard the day before July 4th, an incident for which he was arrested. Accompanying images of the flag-burning on his Facebook was a message explaining, “In this moment, being proud of my country is to ignore the atrocities committed against people of color, people living in poverty, people who identify as women, and against my own queer community on a daily basis… I do not have pride in my country. I am overwhelmingly ashamed, and I will demonstrate my feelings accordingly. #ArrestMe”

After a woman in Staten Island found herself the subject of death threats for wearing a hat declaring “America was never great” and an young man in Illinois was arrested for burning a U.S. flag, the most common refrain coming from the mouths of…